USA > Iowa > Fremont County > History of Fremont County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., a biographical directory of many of its leading citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistic, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history of Iowa and the Northwest, map of Fremont County, constitution of the state of Iowa, reminiscences, miscellaneous matters, etc > Part 62
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Salary per month paid males. $ 28.60
558
HISTORY OF FREMONT COUNTY.
Salary per month paid females 28.50
No. of months school. 8 2-7
No. of children of school age
416
No. enrolled in the schools . 297
Average attendance in the schools
1493 7
No. of school houses.
Value of school house property. $4,100.00
Amount paid teachers the past year 1,852.85
Amount paid for school houses .... 152.50
Amount paid for contingent purposes 66.06
M'KISSICK GROVE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
This society was organized at the Cole school house in the winter of 1865. The organizing elders were Underwood and James Miller. The original membership comprised Jonathan and Mary Bridges, Louis and Margaret Beaston, John and Ann Beaston, Mary Pauley, George D. Hall and wife, Alice Williams, Isabella and Margaret Beaston; Pinkney, Joseph, Sweeney and Leru Hall, H. Utterback, James and Hannah Mil- ler, Sarah Beckstead, Margaret Crippin, and Matilda Beckstead. No church building is owned by the society, which meets in the school house. Among the pastors have been C. P. Evans, L. D. Cook, J. Canner, Mr. Coomes, H. Hardman, and J. Miller. The membership is twenty.
MILL CREEK WESLEYAN CHURCH.
This society was organized in the winter of 1864 and 1865. The orig- inal members were D. S. Ackerman and wife, Mrs. Mary Lytle, Mrs. Esther Lytle, Mrs. Thompkins Jones, Mrs. Ann Scholes, and Mrs. Mary Stewart. The organizing pastor was the Rev. James Lytle. In 1865, a frame church was built, costing eleven hundred dollars. The church was dedicated by the Rev. Lytle, who was the first pastor. He was followed by John Bauch, and then himself assumed the pastorate. The present membership is twenty.
MONROE TOWNSHIP.
This township was first organized in 1855. It then comprised far more territory than is now embraced within its limits. It presents quite a diver- sity of surface, and has an average acreage of forest. It is well drained by the numerous streams that find their way into the Nishnabotany.
The first settlers who came to this township were Edward Miller and
559
HISTORY OF FREMONT COUNTY.
a Mr. Wheeler. The first named came from Mills county in 1852, and located on section 24. Mr. Wheeler came two years later, in 1854, from Illinois, and located on section 12. In the year following occurred the first marriage in the township, that of Calvin Fletcher and Mary Miller; the ceremony being had at Linden, Missouri. No date can be assigned the first birth of either male or female, but the names are these-Wheeler, son of Theodore and Mary Wheeler, and Helen, daughter of Edward Miller. To care for the sick and sore came Dr. Ripley, from Connecti- cut, since deceased. With the advent of the physician, who came with his skill to relieve the distressed in body, came the clergyman to care for the souls of those who were wearied with sin and wished to be at peace with God. That clergyman was the Rev. Isaac Hunt, of the Protestant Methodist Church. Here and there, where he could find audience, did he attempt to point men to the way of life everlasting. There were no churches in those days, and so recourse was had to private dwellings. Jonathan Wax opened his house to the minister and the preacher came regularly to hold divine service.
The early settlers looked thus after their own morals, and those of the generations yet to come. They first sought to instill the germs of knowl- edge in the minds of the youth, to the end that intelligence and morality should be one and inseparable. The first teacher was O. B. Rice whose pupils numbered some ten, and whose salary was fifteen dollars per month. He is now pastor of the Congregational church at Farmington, Illinois. No school house was built until 1862, when district number 5 built one at a cost of $175. And thus the march of progress kept its way, until the present, when, should some of those who lived in Monroe at that early day, pass over its surface now, they would miss the familiar landmarks, and see in their place a wealthy farming community, the prairies dotted here and there with residences and hamlets. There are two of the latter in the township, Farmer City and Imogene. The former was laid out in the spring of 1876, and is situated in the southwest corner of the town- ship. The land on which it now lies was formerly owned by a Mr. McBurney, of Ohio. It is a small village, numbering some twenty inhab- itants. Imogene, the other hamlet, was platted November 5, 1879, when the place was commenced and the first house erected. Mr. J. A. Rose built the first residence, and still resides in the place, engaged in the mer- cantile business. The village is located on the W., St. L. & P. R. R., and is surrounded by a most magnificent farming country. The hamlet num- bers some one hundred souls.
There are three church organizations in Monroe. The first organized is the Farmers' City church, in the fall of 1873, before the laying out of the town site. Its original membership included George M. Reed, Mag- gie Reed, J. F. Wadkin and wife, M. M. Parish and wife, John Manker
560
HISTORY OF FREMONT COUNTY.
and wife, Frank Plulo and wife, Frank Johnson and wife, R. W. Young and wife, and G. W. Cummings and wife. The first pastor was S. Far- low; the present incumbent is C. E. Lynn. The membership is fifty-five. There being no church structure belonging to the society, the services are held in the school house.
The Pleasant Valley Reformed church was organized May 21, 1876, with a membership of sixteen: Fred Prange and wife, D. S. Bussard and wife, George Cammer and wife, Edgar Faust and wife, Jonathan Allshouse and wife and John Eastman and wife. In 1880 the society erected a frame building at a cost of fifteen hundred dollars. The mem- bership is now sixty-three. The society enjoys the pastorate of the Rev. David P. Lefever.
The Catholic church of Imogene was organized in June, 1880, and has therefore a most brief history. A frame church was built in 1880 at a cost of $1,800.00 The church has a membership of eleven.
The school statistics are as follows:
No. of sub-districts. 9
No. of teachers employed the past year
18
Salary per month, male.
$33.50
Salary per month, female $31.00 7
No. of school months.
No. of children of school age.
328
No. of children enrolled in school the past year. 300
Average daily attendance 159
No. of frame buildings. .
9
Value of school property .
$4,300
Amount paid teachers past year
$2,993
Amount paid for school houses
Amount expended for contingent purposes
$209
PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP .*
This township is perhaps one of the most recently settled in the county. It surface features may in the main be gathered from its name. The land is rolling and but thinly timbered, and then only in the immediate vicinity of streams that serve as a means of drainage. The soil is the deep rich loess, the fertility of which is inexhaustible.
There are no towns within its limits, and no settlements of any moment,
* For the position of thi ; and all other townships see the map accompanying this volume. For boundaries see the foregoing.
561
HISTORY OF FREMONT COUNTY.
its residents being all engaged in farming, and scattered everywhere as is the case in all bucolic districts.
The earliest settler within its prosent limits was Robt. Warhub, origi- nally from the state of Illinois, but from Missouri to this township in 1852. Mr. Warhub was engaged, for a number of years, in running a ferry over the Nisnabotany, near the mouth of Walnut creek. In coming to this township he located on sections 16 and 17.
In the same year came Royal Crandall, from Illinois, Walker Boyler came in 1854, and Macoy Malcolm, in 1855, both these latter coming from Indiana. The persons first born in the township bear the names of these oldest residents and were William Warhub, in 1854, Sarah J. Warhub, in December, 1855, and Isaac W. Crandall in May, 1856.
The first death was of a most distressful character, and testifies to the privations that were suffered in those days; Robert Malcolm was the sufferer, aged about twelve years, and frozen to death in the winter of 1855. His remains lie in the cemetdry at Sidney.
In common with the early residents of other portions of the county much difficulty was experienced in obtaining lumber for building purposes, and even the very necessaries of life. The points at which these might be obtained were many miles away,-at St. Joseph, Missouri, or Trader's Point, a few miles below the city of Council Bluffs on the Missouri river -and the journey frequently occupied days. For weeks many families suffered for even the necessaries of life, and its luxuries were continually denied them.
The history of the township is not unmixed with both accident and crime. Some incidents of each here follow: Sometime before 1860, an entire family by the name of Armentrout, numbering four persons in all, was drowned in the Nishnabotany above the mouth of Walnut creek, while on the way to Sidney. They were attempting to cross the river, but were overwhelmed by the flood, horses and all. The bodies were all recovered except that of the oldest in the party, Mrs. Armentrout.
In 1869 a man, calling himself "Dr. Hitchcock," murdered a child by drowning in the Nishnabotany. He was arrested, brought to Sidney for a preliminary examination, after which he was committed for trial. Before the latter was reached he succeeded in breaking jail, and escaped to that land famous as the home of such as he -- Texas. He was heard of once since in that state. The child was drowned in the vicinity of what is known as Taylor's ford.
The school interests of the township have been well cared for since the earliest school, which was taught by Miss Matilda Hyatt at the house of William Warhub. The first school house built was a log structure, erected in 1864, on section 17, by Samuel McCall, costing some two hun-
16
562
HISTORY OF FREMONT COUNTY.
dred and fifty dollars. The building was a small one, 14x16 feet, and built in the usual fashion of log houses of that day. In 1869 a new and more modern structure was built on section 9, by H. J. Heaton, at a cost of some seven hundred and fifty dollars. Since that time the improvement has been rapid, as the statistics for 1880, given below, sufficiently attest:
No. of sub-districts. 8
No. of teachers employed the past year
15
Salary per month, male. $
30.00
Salary per month, female. 25.76
No. months of school. 8
No. of children school age.
173
No. of children enrolled the past year.
150
Average daily attendance.
93.3
No. of frame school houses. 8
Value of school property. $1,740.00
$3,800.00
Amound paid teachers ..
Amount paid for school houses
Amount paid for contingent purposes $ 135.00
RIVERSIDE TOWNSHIP.
So recent has been the formation of this township that it has, compara- tively speaking, little history. It has elsewhere been stated that the early settlers of this county avoided the prairie and preferred rather to locate along the river bottoms. Thus it was the tide of settlement was stayed until quite a late day at the south and west of the territory embraced in this township. But when once the way had been opened, others were not long in finding homes within its borders.
The first settler to locate was William Brooke, who selected section 29. He remained but a few years when he went to Colorado. James Reese located on the same section, but also finally abandoned it and went to Kansas. In the immediate vicinity of the only town in this township- Randolph, a newly formed railroad station on the Sidney branch of the C., B. & Q. R. R .- as long ago as twenty-five years, settled John and Robert Antrim, and Abner Heaton. Five years later came Samue. Walker. The two former came from Indiana, the last named from Ohio. Heaton came from Pennsylvania, and was the only one of the number to "stake out" an original claim, which he did on section 2. The others bought the claims of prior settlers.
The first school was taught in the house of John Smith, by Miss Sire
563
HISTORY OF FREMONT COUNTY.
Neadim, now living in Missouri. She experienced all the difficulty of a frontier school-mistress, being subject to many of the tricks for which the lads of those days were so noted, and received as compensation therefor the sum of two dollars and fifty cents per week, out of which she was to board herself and provide all other necessaries. The first school-house in the township was built at a later day and is now known as the Perkins district school house. The building is a frame structure, built at a mod- erate cost.
RANDOLPH.
The hamlet of Randolph was platted in September of 1877. Samuel Buckner was the one to lead the business interests of the place by opening a store, which was subsequently followed by another under the manage- ment of the Spencer brothers. When the railroad was completed, November 10, 1878, the place began to grow a little, and its business interests to proportionately increase. The village now numbers about two hundred. There is one church in Randolph, the
RANDOLPH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,
which was organized March 30, 1873. The original members were T. A. McKee and wife, C. W. Dodd and wife, Mrs. Mary Dodd, E. H. Mitchell and wife, W. M. Evans and wife, Miss Hannah Evans, W. F. Hendrickson, Mrs. J. D. Tipple, Miss Adelia Tipple, Albert Ranney, Robert Kilpatrick, J. Kilpatrick, F. D. Kilpatrick, George Kilpatrick and the Misses Mary, Martha and Lizzie Kilpatrick.
In the winter of 1879-80 the society erected a frame church edifice at a cost of $1,800, which was dedicated Thanksgiving day, November 25, 1880, by Rev. Thomas H. Cleland, of Council Bluffs, Iowa. Since the first organization of the church it has enjoyed the pastorate of the Rev. Charles Merwin, the first supply and organizer, the original members being largely from his own church at Malvern, Iowa. Following him in the order given as supplies came R. J. Brown, Rev. Mr. Morrison and the present incumbent J. H. Vance, licentiate. The church-which now numbers thirty-three-has never yet had a settled pastor. The society owns a pipe-organ valued at $800, the only organ of the kind in Fremont county.
Following are the educational statistics of the township:
No. of sub-districts.
9
No. of teachers employed. 17
Salary paid males per month. $29 50
Salary paid females per month $29 14 No. of months school.
1
564
HISTORY OF FREMONT COUNTY.
No. of children of school age in township 336
No. of children enrolled in the districts . 297
Average attendance in the districts. 151
No. of school-houses in the township, frame.
8
Value of school property $2,810 00
Amount paid teachers. $1,812 00
Amount paid for school houses.
$400 00
Amount paid for contingent purposes
RIVERTON TOWNSHIP.
Within this township is a single town, to the history of which the reader is referred for information pertaining thereto.
The surface of the township is largely rolling and quite heavily wooded, comprised, as it largely is, within the region drained by the main branches of the Nishnabotany. The soils of its valleys is fertile in the extreme, and its wooded sections afford an all but unlimited supply of fuel and timber for other purposes.
The earliest known settlers came to Riverton township in 1856, 1857 and 1858, being Isaac Smith, John Kelsey, Robert Butler, James McIntosh, and G. B. Murray. The wife of the last named died in 1858, this being the first death within its limits.
The school statistics, exclusive of Riverton city, are as follows:
No. of sub-districts 5
No. of teachers employed the past year
9
Salary per month, same to males and females $ 32.55
No. of school months. 9
No. of children of school age in township
174
No. of children enrolled in the schools. 157
63
Average attendance in the township.
No. of school-houses, frame 5
$2,325.00
Value of school property 1,465.00
Amount paid teachers.
Amount paid for school-houses. 236.84
Amount paid for contingent purposes 4.2(
RIVERTON.
This city was laid out in the spring of 1870 by A. B. Smith, on land purchased from Isaac and Coleman Smith, five hundred acres in all. The first year a few dwellings were erected, and a store or two. The increas
565
HISTORY OF FREMONT COUNTY.
ing business on the railroad line of which it formed a station, soon brought a large number of persons, and the following year witnessed a rapid growth. The town succeeded in securing the establishment of a post- office in 1863, and then it was assured of a name abroad. The following year the Masonic block was built, as was also the hotel and several other business houses and private residences.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
was organized in 1872, with the following original members: W. S. Fra- zer, Coleman Smith, G. Smith, J. A. Chaney, J. Rockafellow, Harriet Smith, Martha Chaney, Abel Dalgrehn, A. R. Dunham, Henrietta Fra- zee, Ella Frazer, R. Graham and Ruth Graham. The society built a brick church in 1873 at a cost of $4,200, which was dedicated by Bishop E. G. Andrews. The present membership of the church is eighty. Its pastors have been G. C. Waynich, J. P. Evans, Fred. Harris, W. F. Laidley, W. A. Wiseman, George Clamme and H. G. Smith.
RIVERTON BAPTIST CHURCH.
This society was organized in 1871, August 20, with the following orig- inal members: S. E. Baldwin, C. McCulloch, F. P. Hallowell, Albion Hallowell, Clara Beard, A. M. Nettleton and Hannah Nettleton. In 1877 the society built a brick structure at a cost of $4,000. On the 16th of September the church building was dedicated by Rev. G. J. Johnson. The pastors have been Thos. Muxton, J. W. Roe, J. Wilson, C. L. Butts, John Davis and J. B. Edmonson. The present membership is one hundred and one.
THE CIVIC SOCIETIES
are two in number. The Masonic Lodge-Omega Lodge, No. 327, A. F. and A. M.,-was organized June 4, 1873. The charter members were Alfred Wingate, J. W. Anderson, I. P. Kidd, Moses Samuels, James W. Beard, J. H. Utterback, A. M. Swineford, N. P. Reynolds, J. E. Dolph, T. D. Pryor, M. R. Ausbach, J. E. Jones, G. D. Bacheldor, C. T. Clark and F. M. Trobee. The lodge owns property to the value of nine thous- and dollars, and is in debt about three thousand. The Masonic block, above mentioned, was built by a stock company in 1873 and 1874 at a cost of $8,000.00. The lodge numbers, at present, sixty members, offi- cered by J. C. Thatcher, W. M .; John Snyder, S. W .; W. T. Zordy, J. W .; W. M. Williams, Secretary; Thomas Thompson, Treasurer; R. Hoy, S. D .; Thomas Lusby, J. D .; J. H. Jones, Tyler.
566
.
HISTORY OF FREMONT COUNTY.
I. O. O. F.
Riverton Lodge, No. 280, was instituted April 28, 1874, by District Deputy Grand Master Enoch Alberson. The charter members were F. M. Trobee, E. F. Conger, A. T. Davis, M. R. Ausbach, M. W. Clark, T. K. Lyson, C. B. Coe and W. M. Clark. The lodge being duly instituted, F. M. Trobee was elected and installed as its first N. G .; T. K. Lyson, V. G., and E. F. Conger, Secretary.
The additions to the lodge by card and otherwise have been ninety. Since its organization the lodge has lost by death but one member. It is at present officered by F. Johnson, N. G,; D. S. Allen, V. G., and H. S. Smith, Secretary.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
With the settlement and growth of towns a hundred necessities spring into being, demanding each its appropriate share of attention, and prom- ising each its own measure of good. By far the most important of all these is the common school. In direct proportion to the attention paid to it, does the common school add to the sum of human happiness by increas- ing the sphere of human usefulness and duty. The more earnest the spirit that prompts to action, the broader and grander are the results attained. The scope of the educator has been enlarged; he partakes very much of the relation of an advisor as well as instructor of youth. Recognizing that youth cannot be driven, and that under proper guid- ance each may find his own sphere of labor and usefulness, he has ceased turning the undivided attention of the student to the "three R's," and called him into far wider and grander fields of study. At his best he may only lay the foundation of an education, then the leading branches of human knowledge become various departments of valuable training under the title of individual self-culture. The great mass of human infor- mation in its purest and most valuable type is obtained when school days have been ended and the text book and teacher are replaced by the stern activities of life and that harsh old pedagogue-experience. This much is a recognized fact in modern education, and the common school adapts itself to the needs of the hour. To-day it is educating statesmen and leaders of public opinion; those who plead for human rights and those who present eternal spiritual truths. It is the educational factor of the age, the moulder of the nation's future, and in its recognition the village of Riverton has cause for self-congratulation. It is a proud feature of the village that it has good schools and able teachers-made more effective far by an enthusiastic and liberal minded board of education. Following are the
567
HISTORY OF FREMONT COUNTY.
EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS-RIVERTON INDEPENDENT DISTRICT.
No. of teachers employed the past year
3
Salary per month paid males. $ 62.22
Salary per month paid females 31.11
No. of months school . 9
No. of children of school age.
194
No. of children enrolled in the district
181
Average attendance in the district.
106
No. of school houses brick. 1
Value of school property $ 5000.00
Amount paid teachers the past year
1120.00
Amount paid for school-houses .
Amount paid for contingent purposes.
312.15
ROSS TOWNSHIP.
As has been stated in the introduction to the township histories there is lit- tle that can be said, with absolute certainty, concerning the early settle- ment of townships. This is particularly true of Ross, the history of which is really the history of Tabor. Before that village was laid out and settled there were few residents within the township limits; and they, or some of them, came as early as 1846. They were E. B. Gaylord, Noah Green
John Buler, and R. Argyle. The township was then far removed from those portions of the county first settled, and other favorable sites were abundant, so that until the coming of the colony from Civil Bend to found, the town of Tabor, settlements were few, and no record of such as did occur seems to have been kept by any person more than the few names above.
SCHOOL STATISTICS.
No. of sub-districts.
10
No. of teachers emplyoed the past year
24
Salary per month paid males
$33.00
Salary per month paid females $27.50
No. of school months.
No. of children of school age in township
348
No. of children enrolled in the district 309
Average attendance in the township.
169
No. of school houses in the township (frame). 10
Value of school property . $4,150.00
568
HISTORY OF FREMONT COUNTY.
Amount paid teachers.
$2,261.60
Amount paid for school houses
Amount paid for contingent purpose. $483.55
Beside the churches of Tabor there is an organization known as "The Disciples of Christ," which was organized in the summer of 1856. The original members were W. Woodrun and wife, A. S. Roberts and wife, M. V. Roberts and wife, J. V. Roberts and wife, Mrs. W. M. Flanery, Miss Milly Flanery, and Mrs. William Martin. The society own no church building. The services were for a number of years held in pri- vate residences, but of late in the Ross school-house. The present mem- bership is twenty-five. The pastors have been J. V. Roberts, W. B. A. Carter, and Father Mills.
The Plum creek branch of the
REORGANIZED CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST,
was instituted October 18, 1862, by Elder Charles Derry. The original members were John Leeka, E. B. Gaylord, Noah Green, Simon Dike, Mary Ann Dike, Mary M. Study and Barbara Study. The society owns no church structure. The pastors have been John Leeka, William Gay- lord, John Good and William Leeka, until the present. The membership is ninety-three.
TABOR.
The town of Tabor lies twelve miles north of Sidney, on the line be- tween Mills and Fremont counties. It was first settled in 1852, by G. B. Gaston and Rev. John Todd, who came from Civil bend, on the Missouri bottom, but were originally from Oberlin, Ohio. Much of the history of the village is common to that of the Congregational church, to which the reader is referred for many facts connected with the founding of the town
It was about three years after this that the first business of a public character was transacted, and that was at the house of G. B. Gaston. In the early days of Tabor private residences were used as places where public business was transacted. Then came the school-house, serving for the business of instruction, the preaching of the gospel and as city hall. The first meeting recorded seems to bear the date of May 15, 1854, and among other matters took into consideration "the village plat and matters connected therewith."
At this meeting a committee of three was appointed to draft a plat of the village of Tabor. Committee: John Todd, Jonas Jones and J. L. Smith. The laying out of the village was placed, as seen above, in the hands of a committee. The survey was subsequently commenced but remained unfinished. The delay was due to numerous causes, among
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